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Fig. 1. Showing position of club in left hand 



GOLF 

SIMPLIFIED 

Cause and Effect 
DAVE HUNTER 




ILLUSTRATED 

FROM 
PHOTOGRAPHS 



GARDEN CITY, N. Y., AND TORONTO 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
1921 






COPYIHGHT, 1921, BY 
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 

ALL BIGHTS BESEHVED, rSCLUDDTG THAT OF TBANSLATION 
INTO FOBEIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN 



JUN 22 1921 
©CI.A617417 



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TO 
MY FATHER 



j 



PREFACE 

T TL 7HEN I was a boy, I had a won- 
V Vderful opportunity to learn the 
game of golf. My father, ' ' Charley ' ' 
Hunter, was then in charge of the 
links at Prestwick, Scotland, one of 
the very best courses in existence, 
so I learned to play under ideal con- 
ditions. 

It might be of interest to note that 
my father remained in charge right 
up to his recent death (on January 
24, 1921), and at that time was the 
oldest golf professional in the world. 

Later on, when I began to think 
about taking up the teaching of goK 
as a profession, my father told me 
that there was one thing to which 



VI PREFACE 

little attention had been given, and 
which above all others would help 
me in teaching. That one thing 
was the pronating! — or, the proper 
turning of the wrists and forearms 
at the beginning of the swing. 

That was about twenty-five years 
ago, and ever since then I have in- 
cluded that theory in my method of 
teaching, but until recently, only as 
an incidental. Some years ago I 
decided to make a special study of 
this idea, and to make some experi- 
ments. As a result of these, my 
teaching now consists of absolutely 
nothing but this one idea. I have 
proved to my entire satisfaction 
that not only is it the most important 
point, but that it is practically all 
there is to the game of golf. I have 
experimented with beginners and 
with players of years of standing, with 
young boys, elderly men, and with 



PREFACE Vll 

ladies, and without exception I 
have found this a cure-all for their 
troubles. It is a very simple little 
thing, and one which, if given a little 
thought, will, I think, be a real help 
to golfers. 

My purpose now is to begin by 
describing, in as simple a manner as 
possible, the correct grip, stance, 
and swing — or in other words the 
correct way to play golf — and then 
to dwell on the most common faults 
of the golfer, and by analyzing these, 
to show why they are made, and 
how they can be prevented. 



FOREWORD 

A SSUMING that the reader is a 
Jr\. beginner, there are three im- 
portant things to consider in learning 
how to hit a golf ball correctly — ^the 
grip, the stance, and the swing. 

"The grip" means the method 
of holding the club in the hands, and 
the relative control of each hand. 

"The stance" means the position 
of the feet in relation to the ball, 
and the proper distribution of weight 
on each foot. 

"The swing" means the complete 
movement of hands, wrists, arms, 
body, legs, and feet from the time 
the stance is taken until the ball has 
been hit and the swing completed. 

These will be dealt with in the 
following chapters. 



CONTENTS 



FAQE 



The Grip 1 

The Stance 6 

The Swing 9 

Mid Iron and Jigger 18 

Mashies and Pitch Shots ... 20 

Fancy Shots 22 

Common Faults and Their Remedy . 24 

Slicing 27 

Pulling 30 

Topping 32 

Putting 34 

Conclusion 40 



GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

CAUSE AND EFFECT 



i 



GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

CAUSE AND EFFECT 
THE GRIP 

THERE are three well-known, 
orthodox grips: the "V" grip, 
in which the hands do not in any 
way overlap; the ''Interlock/' in 
which the first finger of the left hand 
and the fourth finger of the right 
hand interlock; and the "Overlap," 
or "Vardon" grip. As the last- 
named is the most popular, I would 
recommend it, and will go more fully 
into the details of it. I wish here to 
have it clearly understood, partic- 
ularly by those who already have 
adopted one of the other grips, that 
while I prefer the "Vardon" I do 
not by any means insist on it nor do 
I say that it is better than any other. 



2 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

It is a case of each to his own taste, 
and I prefer the "Vardon." 

The "Vardon'' Grip, Lay the 
club diagonally across the left hand, 
as shown in Fig. 1, and close the hajid 
so that the grip is almost entirely in 
the last three fingers — ^the first finger 
and thumb should just lie on the 
club; get the hand around the shaft, 
so that when the clubhead is on the 
ground you can just see the knuckle 
at base of fourth finger — ^the thumb, 
meanwhile lying flat down on the 
shaft, the correct position being 
neither on the top nor on the side of 
the shaft, but midway between 
(see Fig. 2). Then lay the right 
hand on the club so that the fourth 
finger rests either between the first 
and second fingers of the left hand 
or on top of the first finger, and the 
left thumb lies in the centre of the 
right palm. Now close the hand so 



THE GRIP 3 

that again the grip is in the last 
three fingers — ^the first finger and 
thumb resting Hghtly on the shaft 
and the first finger shghtly separated 
from the others. The thumb should 
easily and comfortably take its posi- 
tion as before mentioned, midway 
between the top and the side of the 
shaft. (See Figs. 3 and 4.) 

The left should always be the 
controlling hand and consequently 
should grip the club tighter than the 
right, so the grip with the right hand 
must be comparatively easy. 

The right being naturally the 
stronger hand, care must be taken to 
prevent its taking control, and herein 
lies one advantage of the *'Vardon" 

grip. 

The fourth finger of the right hand 
does not touch the club at all; and 
the thumb and first finger only 
slightly, consequently one is not so 



4 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

likely to take control from the left 
hand, where it belongs. 

The same method of gripping the 
club is applicable to all the clubs and 
to every shot. 

As already stated, the left hand 
should grip the club much more 
tightly than the right, and complete 
control should be retained in the 
left. 

If there is any fault in the relative 
strength of the grip of the two hands, 
in nine cases out of ten it will be 
found that the right is being held 
too tightly, and for this reason I have 
dwelt on the importance of gripping 
only lightly with the right. 

There are some people, however, 
whose wrists or fingers are unusually 
weak. This is frequently the case 
with ladies, and occasionally with 
men. For such people it will be 
found necessary to let the right hand 



THE GRIP 5 

grip a little tighter than the fore- 
going instructions would indicate, 
but even then care must be taken 
not to take the control away from 
the left hand. 



THE STANCE 

THERE are four different stances : 
one for very full shots such as 
are made with the wooden clubs ; one 
for long iron shots such as are made 
with a mid iron; one for mashie 
pitches; and one for chip shots. 

For wooden club shots, I prefer 
what is known as the "square" 
stance. If you will look at Fig. 5, 
which illustrates the stance for this 
shot, you will see two straight lines 
drawn, one parallel with and the 
other at right angles to the line of 
play. The point of intersection rep- 
resents the position of the ball. 
You will note that both feet are equi- 
distant from the parallel line (al- 
though in the foreshortening of the 
photograph the right foot seems 
somewhat advanced) and that the 



THE STANCE 7 

right -angle line almost touches the 
left heel. 

To get the distance of feet from 
ball, lay clubhead on ground, touch- 
ing ball as in figure and stand so that, 
with knees slightly bent and hands 
held low, the elbows are close to 
but not touching the body. 

After finding, as explained above, 
the relative position of feet and ball, 
take your stance, with toes slightly 
turned out, with weight mostly on 
heels and equally distributed on 
both feet, and with knees slightly 
bent. 

The stance for long-iron shots 
differs from the stance for those 
played with wooden clubs only in 
that the right foot is slightly ad- 
vanced, i.e. nearer the parallel line 
by about five inches (see Fig. 6). 

For high-pitched mashie shots the 
right foot is still farther advanced, 



8 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

the difference in this case being about 
ten inches (see Fig. 7). 

For chip shots the stance is very 
"open," the right foot being about 
twelve inches farther forward than 
the left (see Fig. 8). You will 
also note that in playing the chip 
shot it is necessary to stand much 
closer to the ball. 

The reason for these different 
stances is explained in the next chap- 
ter, dealing with the Swing. 



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Fig. 2. 



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How to grip club with left hand 




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Fig. 3. Showing grip with both hands 




Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 4. Illustrating overlap 




Underwood d: Underwood 

Fig, 5. Stance for driver 



THE SWING 

BEFORE trying to swing a club, 
hold your open left hand in 
the position shown in Fig. 9, which 
represents its position when holding 
a club, then swing it slowly and 
naturally to the right shoulder. From 
there swing it slowly and comfort- 
ably forward, past the original posi- 
tion, until it is in line with the left 
shoulder. Make sure that the posi- 
tions of it exactly correspond with 
those in Figures 10 and 11. It 
must not correspond with Figures 12 
and 13, for then your swing will be 
unnatural. You will note that as 
the arm swings to the extreme right, 
as shown, the wrist automatically 
turns over. You do not have to 
think of turning it ; it turns naturally. 
The same principle applies exactly 

9 



10 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

to the golf swing (see Figs. 14 
and 15, which correspond with 10 
and 11). It is so natural that it 
seems unnecessary to learn it at all. 

Inasmuch as the whole secret of 
success in golf — ^if indeed it can be 
called a secret — depends on the 
swing, the student would do well 
to take plenty of time to it, and to 
give it his most careful study. 

At first no ball should be used and 
the clubhead should not be raised 
higher than horizontal (see Fig. 
16). If this is done correctly, the 
movement will be found to corres- 
pond exactly with the experiment 
just made with the open hand. 

Begin by taking a wooden club, 
place the clubhead on the ground, 
take your grip and stance as already 
shown. Keep the hands well down 
as shown in Fig. 17 and not pushed 
out as shown in Fig. 18. Then begin 



THE SWING 11 

very slowly to move the clubhead 
backward. This is done by slightly 
turning (not bending) the left wrist 
and at the same moment allowing the 
left forearm to move slowly back- 
ward (see Fig. 19). Be careful 
to let the first movement be made 
with the left, and not the right hand. 
Care should also be taken to keep 
both feet and heels firmly on the 
ground. 

Nothing should move except the 
arms, and simultaneously with the 
backward movement the wrists and 
forearms should turn, so that when 
club is horizontal, the clubhead 
points straight upward (see Fig. 
16). 

It is most important that the turn- 
ing of the wrists and forearms (this 
is called pronating) should begin 
exactly simultaneously with the first 
movement of the clubhead. Neither 



12 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

the wrists nor the arms should move 
before the other; they must both 
begin moving at exactly the same 
moment. It is vitally important 
that the wrist should not bend (or 
break) . 

Before going further, let me again 
impress on the reader the extreme 
importance of these two points — 
the two most important in the en- 
tire golf decalogue: first, the proper 
pronating, or turning of the wrists, 
and forearms away from the ball ; and 
second, the keeping of the wrist 
perfectly straight and never allowing 
it to break. Get clearly into your 
mind the difference between turning 
the wrist, and breaking it. The one 
is vital, the other is fatal (see 
Fig. 16, which is correct, and Figs. 
£0 and 21 which are incorrect). 

After having taken the club back 
properly so that when horizontal. 



THE SWING 13 

the head points straight upward, take 
it slowly down, past the original 
position until it is again horizontal, 
in front. Again, if correctly done, 
the clubhead will point upward. 

I would recommend doing this 
over and over again, until it comes 
quite naturally, being sure all the 
time that when in horizontal position 
the clubhead points upward, also 
that both feet and heels remain 
firmly on the ground and that noth- 
ing moves, except hands, wrists, and 
arms. After continuing for a time, 
swinging slowly and easily back- 
ward and forward, and not letting 
the club go higher than horizontal, 
try to get the hands and club a little 
higher, being careful, meanwhile, 
to keep both feet and heels firmly 
on the ground and not to allow body 
or head to move. It will be found 
that you cannot do this without 



14 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

moving something. Then you must 
allow the left knee to bend inward. 
This will necessitate raising the left 
heel, and allowing the left foot to 
rest on the inside of the ball of the 
foot. See that the knee bends in- 
ward and not forward. Above all, 
let this entire movement be as nat- 
ural and comfortable as possible. 
There must be nothing forced or un- 
comfortable about the swing. 

\\^hen you get to the top of the 
back swing (see Fig. 22) be careful 
that the grip of the left hand is not 
loosened, but, while keeping the 
fingers tightly closed on handle, allow 
the wrist just enough flexibility to 
''give" a little bit. The weight of 
the clubhead will do this if you will 
only allow it, and by allowing it you 
will avoid an unnatural stiffness of 
wrist which is always a disadvantage. 
At first it may seem a little difficult 



THE SWING 15 

to keep a firm finger grip without 
making the wrist absolutely rigid 
but with a little practice it will be- 
come quite natural. 

At the top of back swing the club 
should be horizontal, with the head 
pointing straight down (see Fig. 
22). 

In the case of wooden clubs, the 
player should keep in mind the fact 
that the ball should be swept away, 
rather than hit. Having this in 
mind, let the club swing down, sweep- 
ing the ball with it as it goes. 

It is a recognized fact in connec- 
tion with the golf swing that the 
club will come down in the same arc 
in which it is taken back, therefore 
no thought need be given the down 
stroke at all, but for the same reason 
it is doubly important to be very 
careful with the back swing. 

Do not think of how the club is 



16 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

coming down nor of the follow 
through, but only of sweeping the 
ball away. 

If the back swing has been prop- 
erly made, all of these things will 
take care of themselves. 

With regard to the follow through, 
do not try to force it, nor to check it. 
Just be natural and it will take care 
of itself (see Fig. 23). 

Let me here emphasize the ex- 
treme simplicity of this method of 
teaching as compared with the usual 
method in which as much attention 
is paid to the down swing and follow 
through, etc., etc., as to the back 
swing; whereas I claim that if the 
back swing is properly made, no 
thought need be given the others. 

If this is true— and I have proved 
it to my entire satisfaction — ^just 
think how much easier the game 
will be to learn and how much less 




© Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 6. Stance for iron club 




Fig. 7. 



© Underwood & Undencood 

Stance for mashie 




© Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 8. Stance for chip shots 




Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 9. Natural position of open hand 



THE SWING 17 

trouble it will be to correct any faults 
which may develop! 

After the swing has been made 
completely it is advisable to make, 
say, half a dozen complete swings, 
then start as though to make an- 
other, but stop this time when club 
is horizontal; see whether feet are 
on ground, with the weight on the 
heels, and whether club-head points 
straight up. If so, you are correct; 
if not, something is wrong and you 
had better start all over again. All 
this should be done for some time 
before a ball is used at all. 

Note very carefully that the first 
movement is with the hands, wrists, 
and arms only, and that the left is 
the controlling hand; being careful 
that wrist turns but does not break. 



MID IRON AND JIGGER 

IF YOU will refer to the chapter 
on the Stance, you will note that 
for mid-iron and jigger shots the right 
foot is rather more advanced, or, 
in other words, the stance is more 
open. The result of this, or rather 
the reason for this, is that the swing 
should be a little more upright. 

If the correct stance is adopted, no 
thought need be given to the more 
upright swing, because with the 
more open stance the swing must 
naturally be more upright; so here, 
all that is necessary is to change the 
stance and to keep in mind the idea 
that in this case the shot is not so 
much a sweep as in the case of the 
wooden clubs, but rather more of a 
hit, due to the difference in stance and 
the consequent more upright swing. 

18 



MID IRON AND JIGGER 19 

For iron shots the same care is 
required with the back swing as with 
wood, the only difference being that 
the wrists are just a Httle firmer but 
not rigid. Hands low, turning of 
wrists, and movement of arms start 
simultaneously, and when the club 
is horizontal the clubhead should 
point upward. The club should be 
held firmly in the left hand through- 
out the entire shot and care should 
be taken to avoid breaking the wrist. 
Where less than a full shot is required 
the swing is not quite so full. 



MASHIES AND PITCH SHOTS 

FOR very full mashie shots the 
stance and swing are the same 
as for the mid iron and jigger. 

Regarding pitch shots; if you will 
again refer to the chapter on the 
Stance and to Fig. 7, you will note 
that for these shots the right foot is 
still more advanced than in the case 
of mid iron and jigger, and conse- 
quently the swing is more upright. 
The same methods hold good in 
making the shot, with an additional 
warning against allowing the wrist 
to break. 

For the reason that a great many 
pitch shots require much less than a 
full swing, there is frequently an 
inclination to make the shot too 
much with the wrist, so that allowing 

20 



MASHIES AND PITCH SHOTS 21 

the wrists to break should be par- 
ticularly guarded against (see Figs. 
16 and 17). Here, also, it is most 
important to keep the hands low in 
addressing the ball. 



FANCY SHOTS 

THE foregoing chapters give in de- 
tail complete instructions on golf, 
including grip, stance, and swing; 
and embrace all of the clubs from 
driver to mashie. 

Of course there are many elabora- 
tions on nearly all of the shots de- 
scribed, such as intentional slicing 
and pulling, squeeze shots, push 
shots, etc., but as the whole idea of 
this book is to emphasize the sim- 
plicity of the game and of this 
particular method of teaching, it is 
not my intention to go into details 
regarding any of the fancy shots. 

An excellent game of golf can be 
played without them; and the great 
majority of players would be far 
better off to leave them alone. 

However, I wish to say that there 



FANCY SHOTS 23 

is nothing in this simpHfied method 
of teaching that will in any way inter- 
fere with the more ambitious player 
who. later on wishes to go into these 
technical shots. 

What I have dealt with are funda- 
mentals, and, no matter what kind 
of a shot you wish to play, you 
cannot get away from them. 



COMMON FAULTS AND THEIR REMEDY 

WHEN advocating anything 
radically different from what 
people have become accustomed to, it 
is very difficult to write convincingly. 
If one could only meet and talk to 
each individual reader, and thereby 
hear and answer any arguments he 
might make, the work of convincing 
him would be made very much 
easier. 

In this chapter, however, a better 
opportunity of reasoning with my 
critics is given than in any other 
part of the book, and in this reason- 
ing I will endeavor to adhere closely 
to "cause and effect" and to connect 
them with my methods. 

How often, for instance, upon de- 
veloping a slice, have you been told 

24 




© Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 10. Natural position 




Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 13. Unnatural and wrong position 



FAULTS AND THEIR REMEDY 25 

that you were drawing your club- 
head across the ball at the moment 
of impact ; and advised to correct this 
by following through — or something 
to that effect — instead of trying to 
discover what caused you to draw 
your arms in. 

Working from the knowledge that 
the forward swing must be in the 
same arc as the back swing, and hav- 
ing discovered something wrong in 
the forward swing, it stands to reason 
that your back swing was wrong also; 
and inasmuch as therein lies the 
cause of your trouble, there also lies 
the remedy. 

Your forward swing was wrong 
because your back swing made it 
wrong; therefore, correct your back 
swing, and your forward swing and 
follow-through will take care of 
themselves. 

The most common faults of the 



26 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

golfer are slicing, pulling, topping, 
etc. 

I shall deal with each of these in 
turn and shall see if I cannot find a 
logical explanation of and remedy for 
them. 



SLICING 

THE commonly accepted reason 
of the average golf slice is draw- 
ing the clubhead across the line of 
play at the moment of impact. For 
this I give below several reasons, all 
of which I classify as "effects," and in 
each instance I lead back to the 
fundamental "cause" — ^the start of 
the clubhead from the ball in the 
back swing: 

(a) Drawing head and body up 
and back from ball, due to standing 
too near. 

(b) Swaying. If you start back 
from the ball with arms and wrists 
stiff, keeping the clubhead straight 
without pronating, the natural thing 
to do is to sway to your right foot, 

27 



28 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

because everything is stiff and some- 
thing must give way. The result of 
this is that on the down swing you 
sway forward to the left foot. 

If, on the other hand, you start 
by turning (not bending) your wrists 
and at same time start the forearm, 
you are in an easy, comfortable posi- 
tion and there is no stiffness nor in- 
clination to sway. 

(c) Moving the head (or taking 
your eye off the ball) is very often 
the same as swaying. Most fre- 
quently it is due to a quick, jerky 
back swing. This can be caused 
only by the wrists being too stiff. If 
you turn the wrist and forearm 
away from the ball properly, the 
start cannot be stiff or jerky, and 
there is nothing to cause a sudden 
lifting of the head. 

(d) Left hand too loose, allowing 
right hand to overpower it, which 




© Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 14. Correct position, corresponds with 
Fig. 10 




© Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 15. Correct position corresponds with 
Fig. 11 




Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 16. Correct horizontal position 




Undencood & Underwood 

Fig. 17. Correct stance. Note position of 
hands 



SLICING 29 

in drawing the club away from the 
ball causes the left wrist to break. 
It is very important that the wrist 
be turned — ^not bent. 



PULLING 

PULLING is very often a case of 
turning the wrist over at the 
moment of impact. This is the re- 
sult of over pronating (or turning 
the wrist too much) in leaving the 
ball on the back swing. The re- 
sult of over pronating on the back 
swing is that you must also turn the 
wrist too much in the down swing in 
order to meet the ball squarely — ^and 
when you do this it is impossible to 
check the turning of the wrist at the 
moment you hit the ball. The conse- 
quence is that the wrist continues 
to turn over and either you pull badly 
or else you smother (or top) the 
ball. 

If you find you are pulling, take 
a few very slow swings — see that the 
back movement and the turning of 

30 



PULLING 31 

the wrists and forearms start at 
exactly the same moment, and that 
you are not over-pronating, and see 
also that you are not gripping too 
tightly with the right hand, as this 
is a frequent cause of pulling. 



TOPPING 

TOPPING is frequently caused 
by dropping the right shoulder, 
due to the fact that either the wrists 
or the grip of the left hand, or both, 
are too loose at the top of the back 
swing. The result of this is that on 
the downward movement the club 
gives the impression of being too 
heavy, and the shoulder is allowed 
to drop. This causes the clubhead 
to strike the ground several inches 
behind the ball, with the result 
that it is badly topped. 

Another frequent cause of topping 
is lifting the club too abruptly from 
the ball in the back swing, causing 
the wrist to break. This is apt to 
cause the clubhead to be brought 
down on top of the ball, and conse- 
quently to hit it down into the 




© Underwood & Underuood 

Fig. 18. Incorrect stance. Note position of 
hands 




Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 19. Showing start of swing 




© Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 20. Correct back swing showing wrist 
turned over 




© Underwood & Underwood 

Fig. 21. Incorrect back swing showing wrist 
"broken" 



TOPPING S3 

ground, thereby causing a bad "top." 
If you find yourself topping, see 
that your grip is right, and that you 
are pronating properly, i.e., starting 
slowly back from ball — ^the back 
movement and the turning of the 
wrists and forearms starting sim- 
ultaneously. 



PUTTING 

NO BOOK on golf can be con- 
sidered complete which does 
not include a chapter on Putting. 
I shall, therefore, outline my ideas 
on the subject. 

Many people claim that putters are 
born and not made, and that putting 
is an art which cannot be taught but 
which comes to one naturally. There 
undoubtedly is something in this 
opinion, and it cannot be denied that 
some people are what might be called 
natural putters; but they are com- 
paratively few — so few, in fact, that 
they need hardly be considered here. 

There are some fundamentals that 
even a so-called natural putter must 
consider, and to these I wish to give 
special attention. In addition to 
these, there are a few suggestions as 

34 



PUTTING 35 

to grip, stance, etc., which, while not 
perhaps essential, may be of some 
assistance. 

The Grip: 

Putting is as nearly as possible a 
one-hand shot, that is to say com- 
plete control of club is kept in one 
hand and the other is used only to 
help to balance and guide the club. 
If you try to divide the control 
equally between the hands, the result 
is stiff and what might be described 
as "wooden." Some people advo- 
cate right-hand control and many of 
them attain considerable success — 
I putt entirely with the left and at- 
tribute my success in this depart- 
ment of the game to this fact. 

The manner of gripping the club 
has a great deal to do with the con- 
trol, and the fewer fingers of the 
right hand that grip the club the 



36 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

more the control is likely to be 
thrown to the left hand. For this 
reason I advocate two fingers of the 
right hand overlapping the first two 
fingers of the left. In this way, only 
the first and second fingers and 
thumb of the right hand are on the 
shaft. The thumbs of both hands 
should be down the centre of the 
shaft. Now grip the club firmly but 
not rigidly with the left hand and 
not quite so tightly with the right. 

The Stance: 

Some people play the ball well off 
the left foot, with the weight almost 
entirely on the left; others reverse 
this, keeping the weight on the 
right; while others compromise by 
keeping the weight equally distrib- 
uted on both feet and playing the 
ball off the centre. While it is 
largely a matter of choice, my prefer- 



PUTTING 37 

ence is to keep the weight almost 
equally distributed but rather more 
on the left, with the ball opposite the 
left instep. The right foot should 
be slightly advanced, with toe point- 
ing at right angles to the hole. 
The left toe should point toward the 
hole (see Fig. 24.). 

The knees should be slightly bent, 
and the body bent from the waist — 
the ball should be about 12 or 13 
inches from the left foot. The most 
important part of the stance is the 
position of the arms — ^the right elbow 
should rest lightly against the body, 
while the left should point well 
toward the hole. Left elbow out, 
right elbow in (see Fig. 25). This 
will throw the hands well forward. 

The Stroke: 

It is absolutely essential that the 
stroke be made entirely with the 



38 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

wrists and that the left hand remain 
in complete control of the club. 
Start the stroke with the wrists only, 
not the forearms, and let all the 
power come from the left hand. 
Keep the head of the putter as close 
to the ground as possible. The 
body should be kept absolutely still 
— and if the movement starts cor- 
rectly from the wrists there will be no 
inclination to move the body. Care 
should be taken in hitting the ball 
to avoid pinching the thumb and 
first finger of right hand. This is a 
very natural inclination and should 
be guarded against as it takes con- 
trol away from the left hand, and the 
result is more a "jab" than a clean 
hit. 

The force of the stroke is regulated 
by the length of the back swing. 
The ball must be hit ''smartly," 
not "pushed," not "jabbed," and I 



PUTTING 39 

want particularly to emphasize the 
fact that no follow through is neces- 
sary, in fact it should be avoided. 

Let me again emphasize the es- 
sentials: 

1. Position of arms — aright elbow 
in, left elbow out. 

£. Use wrists only, and keep club- 
head low. 

3. Keep the body still. 

4. Keep control in the left hand. 

5. Do not follow through. 



CONCLUSION 

IN THE foregoing chapters I 
have tried to show a simple but 
effective way of learning to play the 
game of golf and of correcting the 
various faults that are likely to 
develop from time to time. 

If the reader has read any other 
books on the subject, he cannot fail 
to be impressed with the extreme 
simplicity of the method herein de- 
scribed, and, I think, with the rea- 
sonableness of my deductions. 

Last winter I spent some months 
as an instructor in the largest indoor 
goK school in New York (or Amer- 
ica). There were a number (at 
least a dozen) of other professionals 
engaged, and I had a splendid oppor- 
tunity to watch not only their meth- 
ods of teaching, but also their vari- 

40 




© Underuood d: Underwood 

Fig. 22. Correct position at top of swing 




© Underwood & Undericood 

Fig. 23. Correct and natural follow through 




Fig. 24. 



Putting stance, 
feet 



Undericood & Underwood 

Note position of 




U lulerwood & U nderwood 

Fig. 25. Putting stance. Note position left 
elbow 



CONCLUSION 41 

ous styles of play. Some used the 
open, some the square, stance; some 
used a flat, some a medium, and 
others an upright, swing. They had 
various methods of gripping the club, 
but whatever their method of doing 
these various things, they all — with- 
out an exception — ^had the same way 
of starting the club back from the 
ball, although the effects were very 
different, owing to different char- 
acteristics and physical make-up. 

As already stated, the effects were 
different but the start of the back 
swing was always the same — ^the 
back movement and the turning 
of the wrists and forearms always 
started simultaneously and there was 
no jerkiness — even though some of 
them had a very quick swing. Their 
use of it may have been instinctive 
or subconscious, but it was there, 
nevertheless. 



42 GOLF SIMPLIFIED 

The simplicity of this principle 
and rule in golf is its chief charm. 
It is applicable to all styles of play, 
whether upright, flat, or medium, 
and applies to all the shots in your 
bag. Analyze everything from the 
back swing. Never work to im- 
prove "effects," always go back to 
"cause." 

Briefly, my theory — which is now 
no longer a theory, but a fact, 
proved demonstrable, through years 
of experience — ^may be summed up 
as follows : 

With grip and stance properly 
adjusted, be sure you start your club- 
head back from ball correctly. Do 
not jerk, start slowly. Let the back- 
ward movement and the turn of the 
wrists and forearms start at exactly 
the same moment. Keep control in 
the left hand. Pronate properly. 
(And to know when you are doing 



CONCLUSION 43 

this, notice the position of the club- 
head when club is horizontal). And 
finally, when you ''go off your game," 
no matter in what respect — ^whether 
because of slicing, pulling, topping, 
whatever it may be — do not try to 
correct the "effect" but go back to 
first principles and thereby remove 
the "cause." 



THE END 




THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS 
GARDEN CITY, N. Y. 



LRBdij^S 



<. 



